Teenage conversation starter: mom is learning to climb!

 

Well, this empty nester thing isn't so bad. I have come up with an ingenious way to talk to our son more:

LEARN TO CLIMB. Honestly, I don't know why I didn't do this before.

It really has been eye-opening trying to do the things Brendan has to do to train for climbing. Now...I'm not going crazy here...but I am trying to get to the gym 4 times a week (!), eat right, get good sleep, drink collagen, and recover from my sessions. It has really been interesting to combine working with climbing, which is not easy!

I have set some goals for myself. The biggest one is to be lead certified by the time Brendan graduates from College...we'll see! 😂😁😆😅

I do see new things about climbing that I didn't before: the social side of it, the thrill of pushing yourself to new heights (pun intended), working on my footwork (🙄 why can't I match feet???) and just having fun with your friends. I'm even toying with the idea of doing a competition...(UPDATE: yep, I'm doing it!) The teacher inside of me loves to experience what my students do, or, in this case, my son does. I'm getting a great workout and as you saw in my previous post about all women's climbing travel tour groups, I HAVE BIG PLANS! 

    CLIMB ON!

Mom in the Chair!

 

As Brendan gets busier and busier with College, it is increasingly hard for one person to manage all of the fees, registration dates, and deadlines for climbing. Maybe I am a mom who doesn't want to let go of being in her son's life, which is probably true. But my son does see value in having me be the keeper of the calendar and registrations.

As you can imagine, there are a lot of competitions in the State of Colorado, plus the Youth, Elite, and Collegiate circuits. I print out 12 months from my Apple calendar and keep a running tab on all of them. Plus, I am making sure Brendan gets his waivers done now that he is 18.

I also use the app Tripit to keep tabs on all of the travel arrangements when he has to travel and remind him which comps he needs rides to. Without a team that would oversee all of this, I still help. Other college parents can shame me, but for a new Freshman trying to figure things out, I don't want to hang my kid out to dry and leave him to the winds on his own!

Not to mention scholarship management! If you have a kid in college and have tried to navigate the scholarship world, you know what a daunting task that is! Navigating health insurance and deductibles, dealing with the government (for us in Alaska, filling out your Permanent Fund Dividend for the first time!), it's a lot.

I say there are some young adults who still need some management help when navigating a new life direction. And there is nothing wrong with that! I just stay out of his other business unless asked. 😉

    CLIMB ON!